1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a multitrack recorder and a mixdown method and, more particularly, to a technique for mixing down audio signals recorded in multiple tracks to thus generate stereo signals.
2. Related Art
Hitherto-known techniques include a multitrack recording technique for recording audio signals input from a plurality of input terminals in different tracks and a technique for reproducing audio signals from recorded tracks and mixing down the thus-reproduced audio signals in two tracks, thereby stereophonically recording the audio signals. The technique has been employed at; for instance, a site of music production where music sounds of the drum, the bass instrument, the guitar, and the like, making up a musical composition are respectively recorded indifferent tracks and where a music producer (a mixing engineer) controls a balance among volumes of respective music sounds while taking into account a total balance, thereby finally creating a two-channel stereo musical composition.
JP 2560496 B discloses a technique for automatically setting a state of connection between a mixer and a recorder according to various types of operation forms. The operation forms include operation for initially recording audio signals in at least a virgin medium or an empty medium; operation for recording new input signals in different tracks while reproducing audio signals of recorded tracks; operation for recording audio signals of recorded track without modification in other tracks or recording the audio signals in other tracks while mixing them with new input signals; operation for partially re-recording audio signals belonging to certain segments of recorded tracks; and operation for outputting audio signals of recorded tracks without modification or after mixing the audio signals.
JP 4003419 B discloses a technique for enabling performance of mixdown operation while all music parts are being monitored when mixdown operation for bouncing recording is performed again.
Descriptions of JP 2011-60366 A are directed toward stereo recording during which signals are recorded in multiple tracks simultaneously with being mixed down, to thus generate stereo signals and record the stereo signals into different tracks. During stereo recording, a multitrack-recorded file and a stereo-recorded file are separately created. When only the stereo-recorded sound is required, only the stereo-recorded file is read and reproduced.
Incidentally, when respective audio signals recorded in multiple tracks are reproduced and mixed down in two tracks, to thus be stereophonically recorded, the sound producer reproduces each of the audio signals recorded in multiple tracks in each case and controls a balance while the audio signal is being output, to thus create a two-channel stereo musical composition. Therefore, this raises a problem of consumption of a certain period of time. In the meantime, when a certain musical composition is created by means of mixdown operation, the music produce may have already known that mixdown operation can be carried out with an exiting, known balance, or the like, or that, after a balance is controlled during a few first intervals, mixdown operation can be carried out with the balance being held. Even in such a case, there has been no alternative way but to create a two-channel stereo musical composition while audio signals recorded in multiple tracks are being reproduced and output in much the same way as in the related art, which raises a problem of consumption of dead time.